This invention relates to multistory parking garages for automobiles, more particularly, the invention relates to a multistory parking garage which moves vehicles to and from designated parking cells automatically, in a simple, reliable manner.
In urban areas particularly, but also in suburban areas, the growing commercialization of available land has produced rapid and large escalation of land values, to the extent that the use of large areas of land for parking automobiles and other vehicles is uneconomical from the standpoint of monetary return. Unfortunately, the very commercialization which enhances the land values creates an increased demand for vehicle parking space. It is obvious, therefore, that optimum economic usage of the land can only be achieved through the use of multistory parking garages.
One example of such a garage is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,083 of Jaulmes, the garage comprising a multistory structure of parking cells to which vehicles are delivered by an elevator which is movable both vertically and laterally. Automobiles are driven onto the elevator which then carries the car to an empty cell into which the car is driven by an attendant. Retrieval of a car requires the attendant to go to the designated parking cell and to drive the car onto the elevator. Other examples of such structures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,815,429 of Canady; 2,948,421 of Smith et al and 4,664,580 of Matoba.
In the interests of both economy and safety, it is preferable to eliminate the necessity of parking attendants handling the cars by automating the parking operation. There are numerous examples in the prior art of such automated garages, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,257 of Saurwein. The Saurwein patent discloses a circular parking tower having an elevator with a turntable floor. A shuttle mechanism normally carried on the elevator moves under the car to be parked, lifts it up, and carries it on to the elevator. At the parking cell, the shuttle carries the car into the cell, deposits it, and returns to the elevator. The entrance ramp supports the car wheels on a plurality of spaced fingers which interdigitate with fingers on the shuttle so that the shuttle fingers pass through the ramp fingers to lift the car off of the ramp. A similar mechanism enables the shuttle to deposit the car in a cell or to lift the car out of a cell. A similar interdigitated finger arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,793 of Coursey. In both the Saurwein and Coursey arrangements, the apparatus for moving the vehicle is both complicated and costly, and must be capable of bearing the full weight of the car. Thus, automation is achieved, but a the cost of an expensive investment in heavy and complex machinery.
In these automated arrangements, the full weight of the car is borne by the transfer or shuttle mechanism, necessitating heavy, relatively expensive, and complicated mechanisms. There have been efforts to reduce complexity and expense in handling cars, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,994,445 of Roth and 1,803,583 of Aitken. In the Roth patent, a system is shown wherein the vehicle is driven onto an elevator adjacent to an endless belt conveyor having followers mounted thereon. In one embodiment, the followers engage lugs on a wheeled dolly upon which the car rests to move the dolly, and hence the car, into a parking cell. In another embodiment, the followers engage the automobile wheels to impel the unbraked automobile into or out of the parking cell. In the Aitken patent, a parking device consisting of a movable shuttle having rotatably powered lugs for engaging one wheel of the car impels the car into or out of a parking cell. Both the Roth and Aitken arrangements are much simpler than other devices in the prior art, and are not required to bear the full weight of the car. However, both operate on but a single wheel of the car, thus placing undue stress on the car's suspension system, and both engage the tire of the wheel, thereby creating the risk of damage to the tire. In addition, the mechanical linkage involved in the Aitken arrangement is quite complicated. A similar arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,611 of Nobukara, in which metallic fingers on a carriage engage a downwardly extending lug on the bottom of the wheeled vehicle. The arrangement requires that any vehicle to be moved have one or more downward extending lugs affixed to the underside thereof, which requirement prevents the parking of automobiles off the street.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,428,856 of Sinclair, there is shown an arrangement utilizing a carriage having a pair of upwardly extending arms which engage the front and rear bumpers of the vehicle, thus causing it to move with the carriage. Such an arrangement, in which the rigid areas positively bear against the vehicle, can cause damage to the vehicle, especially where the vehicle has no rigid, transverse bumpers. Another arrangement utilizing a carriage is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,113,986 of Kent, wherein coupling the carriage to the vehicle is achieved by a large electromagnet, which is quite expensive, or by actual physical engagement of the carriage with an operative part of the vehicle, such as the differential housing, which can result in damage to the vehicle.
In all of the arrangements of the foregoing prior art a degree of complexity exists which entails undue expense, wear, or as pointed out, possible damage to the running gear of the vehicle being parked. Thus, while much of the prior art achieves automation to at least some degree, it is at the sacrifice of economy, both in the structure and maintenance of such arrangements or of the protection of the vehicle from damage.